LISTEN: Father of Bryan Harsin reportedly calls into Paul Finebaum Show, defends son during Auburn inquiry

Paul Finebaum received an interesting call on his show on Wednesday when “Dale from Boise” called in to defend Auburn coach Bryan Harsin amid an investigation into the Tigers program. But that call led to a question: Is “Dale from Boise” Harsin’s dad, Dale?

There might be some evidence to back it up. Listen to it here. The audio starts at the 8:08 mark.

Dale Harsin is from Boise, and apparently has called Boise sports station KTIK in the past, a station spokesperson told AL.com. Plus, Finebaum even pointed out the points “Dale from Boise” was making that even had him wondering what “Dale from Boise’s” real identity was.

After all, Dale was pretty strong in his defense of Harsin. He pointed to Harsin’s recruiting at Boise State and some of the talent that came out of the program, including Kellen Moore and Jay Ajai.

Then, Finebaum questioned Harsin’s ability to recruit in the SEC. “Dale from Boise” responded again with an interesting answer.

“Well, they want him to go after the five-star players, and you don’t always have to,” “Dale from Boise” said. “Then go after players that want to play the game and want to be part of a team and not just part of being starstruck with all their great stars and stuff. I hear guys here griping about having to work too hard. He never had that problem [at Boise State]. He didn’t make them work to hard.”

Is ‘Dale from Boise’ actually Dale Harsin?

After the show, Finebaum got messages and calls from people asking if “Dale from Boise” was actually Dale Harsin. After all, he seemed passionate about his defense of Bryan Harsin. Finebaum addressed the call on Thursday and even shared his suspicions.

“I didn’t know his dad’s name was Dale until later, but I was going to be respectful,” Finebaum said about the call, via AL.com. “This guy, obviously, is fan of Harsin or knows Harsin. He’s calling from Boise. When he hung up, one of my producers said, ‘Man, someone on Twitter just posted that was his father.’ I said, ‘You know what? I wonder if it was.’ We thought about it. But again, it was early in the show, the show moved on.

“Then, last night and this morning, I started getting texts from media friends of mine who said they had friends listen to that and they think it is Harsin’s father. I’m like, ‘OK,’ so I got to the studio today and we listened to that and we listened to some other tape of him from a couple of months or a year ago. I’m a talk show host, I’m not an FBI voice analyzer, but it certainly sounds like the same guy who was on television as Bryan Harsin’s father.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Finebaum had a high-profile relative call in. Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding’s dad has called the show, as has former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer’s wife. But given the timing of “Dale from Boise’s” call and the context of his defense, it’s reasonable to see why questions rose.